St Matthew Passion

Usher Hall,  4/8/24

St Matthew Passion – J S Bach, arranged by F Mendelssohn

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – Ryan Wigglesworth

Edinburgh Festival Chorus

RSNO Youth Chorus

Ed Lyon (Tenor) – Evangelist, Neal Davies (Baritone) – Christus, Elizabeth Watts (Soprano), Dame Sarah Connolly (Mezzo-Soprano), Laurence Kilsby (Tenor), James Atkinson (Baritone)

In March 1829, in Berlin, the 20 year old Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy presented a performance of J S Bach’s St Matthew Passion, a work unheard since 1750, and unknown to the German musical world, or indeed anyone else. It caused a sensation and is credited with beginning the revival of interest in Bach’s music, to the point nowadays when he is considered one of the great giants of music. It seems scarcely credible that so much of Bach’s music, in particular his vocal music, had been forgotten, and dismissed as out-of-date rubbish.

This concert, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival’s opening concerts this year, was a rare  chance to hear what that audience in Berlin heard in 1829. Having discovered the Passion a few years earlier, Mendelssohn was not so much in awe of Bach’s creation as to leave it alone, and he proceeded to cut, revise, re-orchestrate and rewrite much of the older composer’s work. The result, as we heard in the Usher Hall, was recognisable as Bach’s masterpiece, but only just. A huge chorus, a large symphony orchestra, a fortepiano and an organ, singers more attuned to 19th century music, all these forces combined to present us with a performance which was deeply moving but also strangely empty. The story was told, but the cuts (almost half of Bach’s work) proved too much in the end.

I was part of the 2007 recording by the Dunedin Consort, a version dubbed as Bach’s last performing version from 1742, and the contrast could not be greater. Our version used 8 solo singers for all the choruses and solos, split into two antiphonal choirs, each with its tiny chamber orchestra and continuo. It is much longer but also much lighter. Today’s performance was historically interesting and is exactly the sort of thing that international festivals should do, but I’m not sure it added much to our understanding of Bach’s masterpiece.

The good news is that the performance was excellent, with a terrific line-up of soloists, and the Festival Chorus, subtly augmented, was in fine form. Ryan Wigglesworth, Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra since 2022, was clearly well in control of the enormous forces at his command, and he guided us through the Passion story with well-judged speeds. The great cry of ‘Barrabam’ after Pilate’s question was awe-inspiring, and the link between the evangelist (a fine rendition by Ed Lyon, if slightly overdramatic at times) and the conductor was seamless. Neal Davies was a sympathetic and sonorous Christ and all the soloists, Elizabeth Watts, Sarah Connolly, Laurence Kilsby and James Atkinson were exemplary. I was sorry to find that Mendelssohn had rewritten the alto aria, ‘Erbarme dich’ for soprano, but the beautiful singing of Elizabeth Watts compensated superbly. Some of the evangelist’s vocal line had also been rewritten by Mendelssohn, not to its advantage. A word of praise to Jan Waterfield for single-handedly playing continuo on the fortepiano, which sounded weird at first, but soon became perfectly acceptable.

The smaller parts were adequately performed but were too far away, tucked in with the chorus, and no announcement was made as to why James Atkinson sang Pilate, rather than the named singer. The programme situation was ludicrous. The free sheet we were given contained nothing like all the information we needed, and the ‘Souvenir’ programme (at £10, somewhat overpriced) not much more. There was a rambling article about rituals and faith, but nothing about Mendelssohn and his part in rediscovering the Passion, surely the whole point of this exercise.